Disney Cuts 100 to 200 Theme Park Jobs, Hitting Imagineering

Disney has cut between 100 and 200 jobs in its theme park division, with the reductions falling largely on Imagineering, the team that designs attractions, lands and other offerings for the experiences division, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The cuts took effect Wednesday and Thursday. They followed shifts in project timelines across various projects, according to the source. Disney declined to comment.

The division bearing the cuts is also the company's profit engine. Experiences contributed more than half of Disney's total segment operating income in fiscal 2025. That strength coexists with softness abroad: third-quarter international park operating income fell on what the company described as consumer softness at Shanghai and Hong Kong. U.S. parks moved the other way, with visitation and per capita spending both up.

Why Imagineering took the hit

Imagineering designs the physical product of the experiences division. Its staffing tracks the construction pipeline. That pipeline is large: in 2023, Disney announced it would invest $60 billion in experiences, including:

• three new themed areas
• four new resorts and additions
• more than 18 new attractions
• more than 25 new entertainment offerings

The company has not disclosed which projects shifted timelines, nor whether any announced offering has been delayed or cancelled. Disney also did not say whether further rounds of cuts in the division are planned. The absence of comment leaves the precise link between the $60 billion plan and the layoffs unconfirmed by the company itself.

What did the CEO say?

The layoffs are the latest under Josh D'Amaro, who became CEO in March. Earlier rounds hit human resources, tech and other departments. Earlier this month, the company offered early retirement packages to select employees.

D'Amaro framed the reductions as cost discipline. In August, he said Disney was "highly focused on reducing costs across the enterprise" and was "evaluating a variety of levers, including reductions in labor."

That statement now reads as a forecast. The theme park cuts follow the HR and tech reductions he referenced. What remains unclear is the total headcount affected across all rounds; Disney has not released an aggregate figure for the cuts under D'Amaro.

Is the profit engine under pressure?

Not uniformly. The experiences division delivered more than half of total segment operating income in fiscal 2025, and U.S. parks posted gains in both visitation and per capita spending. The weakness sits in international markets, specifically Shanghai and Hong Kong, where operating income fell in the third quarter on consumer softness.

A company can cut costs in its strongest division while that division still grows. The numbers here suggest Disney is doing exactly that. The question is whether the Imagineering reductions slow the $60 billion build-out, and Disney has offered no schedule detail that would answer it.

For now, the cuts signal that the labor lever D'Amaro named in August remains in active use. Whether the shifted project timelines behind this round stabilize, or extend into further layoffs, will shape the pace of the experiences division's expansion into next year.

By Marcus Bennett